In an ice making machine, a refrigerator or the like, an ice making section or a cooling mechanism for cooling the interior of the refrigerator is disposed in a machine room defined inside a housing. The cooling mechanism basically includes a compressor, a condenser, a capillary tube, and an evaporator, and the condenser in use is of an air cooling type which executes compulsive cooling with a cooling fan disposed in the machine room to perform heat exchange with a coolant.
The structure that relates to the heat exchange of the air cooling type condenser will be described briefly. A large opening is formed in the front portion of the housing which is the main body of the ice making machine, refrigerator or the like at a position corresponding to the machine room defined inside, and is sealed in such a way as to be opened and closed by a front panel. The front panel has an air inlet port and an air discharge port provided therein, so that outside air sucked through the air inlet port by rotating the cooling fan disposed in the machine room contacts the condenser for heat exchange, and is then discharged outside through the air discharge port. In this case, various kinds of dust are sucked through the air inlet port along with the air, and a part of the dust adheres to and is deposited on the outer surface of the condenser with elapse of time. This results in a reduction in the heat exchange efficiency in the condenser, which may lead to overheating or the like thereof to cause malfunction thereof.
In this respect, a structure is employed which adapts the front panel in such a way that a filter for collecting dust is detachably mounted to the front panel at a position corresponding to the air inlet port, and removes dust contained in air with a filter mounted to the front panel before the dust contacts the condenser (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
In the cooling mechanism equipped-device, an electric component box accommodating various electric components which control the cooling mechanism is disposed in the machine room (see, for example, Patent Document 2). In the device described in Patent Document 2, a display section which displays the temperature in the refrigerator and an operation panel or the like for inputting a set temperature are provided at the front surface of the electric component box, and the front surface of the electric component box is structured in such a way that the operation panel or the like faces a window portion opened in the front panel to be easily operated.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-304414
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-156096